RIYADH, 9 January 2008 — On the eve of her departure to Sri Lanka, Anista Marie, the housemaid who was treated like a slave in a Saudi household for eight years, thanked Arab News for bringing her case into the public domain and helping to secure her freedom to return home.
“If it were not for the efforts of Arab News with which I first lodged my complaints, I would not have seen the light of day,” Marie, who is to leave the Kingdom today, told Arab News.
“I am thankful to all Sri Lankans who have contributed and helped me in my release from my decade-long misery. Now I am going home with jingling pockets because of the generosity of benefactors who have helped me without any reservation,” said Marie.
The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE), a Colombo-based government body, which looks after the interests of its overseas workers, provided Marie an air ticket.
W.S.M.S. Wijesundera, charge d’affaires at the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh, said that the delay in sending Marie home was mainly due to the non-availability of her passport. “We had to prepare a temporary travel document for her to reach Sri Lanka. It takes time to get it processed through the Sri Lankan and Saudi governments,” he said, adding that when the Riyadh police rescued Marie on Sept. 5 they had initially demanded that the sponsor hand over her passport, which she refused.
Marie’s case came to light when she called Arab News on Aug. 14 claiming to be working in slave-like conditions in Riyadh. Marie was able to access a phone and call Arab News with the help of a sympathetic family member.
When she initially spoke to Arab News, Marie said she was unsure of her exact location. It took about three weeks for police to track down the location of the residency in Khansalallilah district, 12 kilometers from downtown Riyadh.
Marie was rescued by Saudi security authorities in cooperation with officials from the Sri Lankan Embassy. Marie had arrived in the Kingdom 10 years ago and stopped receiving her salary eight years ago.
Her eight years’ back salary, holiday pay and home ticket amounted to SR40,000. However, her sponsor has agreed to only pay SR20,000 and gave the mission SR8,500 in cash. The balance would be paid in monthly installments of SR1,000 and would be remitted to Marie’s Sri Lankan address.
Marie’s sponsor escaped court charges since the mission decided to wind up the case because of her eagerness to return home as quickly as possible. At one stage, the maid was prepared to go home without her salary dues.
Marie is from a poverty-stricken fishing family in Chilaw, a coastal town 70 km from Colombo. The maid has four children, including two girls. Her eldest son was 10 years old when she left for Saudi Arabia. During this period, Marie lost her fisherman husband in Sri Lanka and only came to know of this two years later through a third party.
